Community Oncology Is Fighting Back, and Winning: Nicolas Ferreyros

Community oncology practices are on the front lines of cancer care innovation, yet they face mounting external pressures that threaten their ability to serve patients. Nicolas Ferreyros, managing director of policy, advocacy, and communications at the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), says that pharmacy benefit managers and health system consolidation are among the biggest obstacles restricting these practices from delivering the right care, at the right time, in the most convenient setting.

For years, community oncology has been unfairly characterized as a lesser alternative to hospital-based cancer care, a perception Ferreyros is determined to change. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, COA partnered with Flatiron Health to analyze care quality, patient outcomes, survival rates, and other key benchmarks across community oncology settings. The findings, set to be released at the Community Oncology Conference, are expected to provide the long-awaited research base proving what practitioners have always known: community oncology delivers high-quality, high-value cancer care close to where patients live and work.

Advocacy is central to COA’s mission. Ferreyros underscores the importance of giving community practices a platform, from conference stages and Capitol Hill visits to webinars and ongoing education. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” he says, stressing that if community oncology doesn’t actively promote its work, it risks being left behind in an increasingly complex policy landscape.

Despite a 2-decade regulatory environment stacked against them, community oncology practices have demonstrated remarkable resilience—navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and the Change Healthcare cyberattack without losing sight of their core mission. Ferreyros compares their determination to that of astronaut keynote speaker Scott Kelly, whose story of tackling extraordinary challenges mirrors the daily realities of community cancer care.

The message is clear: community oncology isn’t just surviving, it’s thriving, and its patients are better for it.